Total Results Blog

Few people live a truly charmed existence. All of us will have to face and overcome difficult circumstances at some point in life. The manner in which we handle those challenging moments will determine just how successful we are in our chosen endeavor. In his book "How Good Do You Want to Be?", former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban says, "In life, your road map is knowing what you want to accomplish then committing yourself to doing the things necessary to reach that destination. You cannot get there without hard work and perseverance." Total Results clients know just how challenging our workouts are, but this is the price they are willing to pay in order to achieve good health and continued independence. The adversity that they conquer during their workouts fortifies them for whatever life throws their way.

Many regular readers of this blog are familiar with the concept of voluntary hardship. This can take on many different forms, such as taking a cold shower, going for a walk outside in winter without wearing a jacket, completing a twenty-four hour fast, or standing for long periods of time rather than sitting. The key word here is voluntary; these are not things that are being forced upon you. The idea behind voluntary hardship is that it fortifies you both mentally and physically; to experience some physical discomfort makes you more resilient and also gives you an appreciation for the relative good fortune that most of us are blessed to have. Total Results exercise is a form of voluntary hardship. No one is forced to participate in our program; clients willingly come to us to learn how to become the best version of themselves. Our workouts are brief, infrequent, and intense, and no rational individual would consider them fun, at least not once you start working with a great deal of effort.

The mental component of exercise can never be underestimated. In order to give your best physical effort, you must be in the proper mental frame of mind. Eliminate distractions! If your mental focus is hampered because you are thinking about something else, you cannot come to grips with the challenge you are about to face. Visualize the workout as an opportunity to overcome some adversity and accept the fact that the next twenty minutes will likely be unpleasant and uncomfortable. Chase after that discomfort, rather than run from it. Facing an obstacle head-on makes it a lot less scary. While we are tricking our bodies into thinking that we are engaged in a life-and-death struggle, in reality we are in a perfectly safe environment. Sometimes clients that take a layoff forget about the amount of effort and focus that is required for optimal performance. Accept the fact that this is hard; better yet, celebrate it! Be proud of yourself for doing something that not many other people are willing to do.

The effort that you give when you are not at your best shows the depth of your character. There are going to be circumstances in life that come up: work deadlines, family emergencies, life stress, and even self-inflicted difficulties. We are all human, and there will be days when you simply "don't feel like it." This is where being process-oriented rather than outcome-oriented is really beneficial. Your best effort may vary from one workout to the next based on factors such as sleep, nutrition, and activity level but there is great honor and satisfaction to be derived from simply doing the best you can on a given day. Don't just try to "get through it", but rather find meaning in the effort. Coach Saban says, "When an opportunity presents itself, approach the challenge not with concern about the outcome but with courage to do your best. Find honor in how you compete."

We are what we think we are, for better or worse. A positive attitude goes a long way. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but once you finish a Total Results workout the hardest part of your day is over. Relish the fact that you have the opportunity to do this, and be proud of the adversity that you are able to overcome. The name of the game is effort!

Last month, I celebrated my 82nd birthday. As I age, I'm curious about how to maintain my fitness and independence. At Total Results, I've been consistently doing a 20-minute workout every week since 2007.

Strength training is paramount for maintaining independence, overall health, and enhancing quality of life. Being independent is my top priority, and the experience of being partially or totally independent can be life-changing.

To better understand my perspective, I recommend visiting a nursing home. Observe the residents coming and going in the lobby. It was eye-opening for me to realize that if I hadn't been strength training for the past 17 years, I might be in a similar situation. Losing my independence is my driving force to stay consistent with my workouts.

I adhere to the Total Results protocol, which emphasizes proper breathing, form, speed of movement, and thorough inroad. My attitude plays a crucial role in achieving these results. Understanding the instructions and executing them are two different activities. I read books and watch instructional videos on playing golf, but it's entirely different when I'm actually on the course. Without the right attitude, focus, and help, I'm in trouble. I try to maintain an open mind and concentrate on the present moment.

I record my times, but only to track my progress and adjust my weights accordingly. I'm not overly concerned about the time under load for each activity. Instead, I focus on giving my all and giving it my best effort during each exercise.

After completing my workout, I can honestly say, "I did the best I could today", and I move on.

When it comes to achieving what we want in life, it is human nature to focus on the outcome rather than the process that is required to get there. The Philadelphia 76ers are a storied NBA basketball franchise, with three world championships on their resume and such luminaries as Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, and Allen Iverson counted among their greatest players. By the early 2010s, the franchise had fallen on hard times and experienced several losing seasons in a row. Former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie developed a mantra that he called "Trust the Process"; this was his vision for how to turn the franchise around, and it involved trading away their most valuable players (who didn't necessarily buy into this concept) in exchange for high draft picks. Hinkie was widely criticized by those who thought the Sixers were losing games on purpose, but the strategy eventually paid off. Philadelphia has made the playoffs every year since 2017-2018 and has won more than 50 games four times.

Lanny Bassham is a former world and Olympic champion rifle shooter who wrote the outstanding book "With Winning in Mind." Lanny has taught his Mental Management � system to Olympic athletes, professional golfers, Miss USA winners, and the United States military, and he teaches his students to become process-oriented instead of outcome-oriented. Bassham believes that if you are solely focused on the outcome you will become disappointed and discouraged if you do not reach it. In addition, over-trying is usually the result when you focus on winning instead of executing the process. The 1976 Olympic champion says, "Put out high-quality effort, consistently over time, and you can do anything you consistently dream of doing."

You are far more likely to achieve something if you write it down and see it every day than if you just dream about it. In his book, Bassham details an entire goal-setting system that can be applied to any endeavor, whether it is quitting smoking, succeeding in business, or becoming a champion rifle shooter. Some of the most important components include determining a goal worth trading your life for, listing the pay-value of the goal, evaluating the potential obstacles in your way, formulating a plan for how to achieve your goal, and starting now. Remember that life is about making a series of choices, and you cannot do everything that you want. Some things must be prioritized, while others may have to be pushed to the back burner or even eliminated entirely. How badly do you want to achieve this goal, and what are you willing to do to get there? Do you want immediate gratification, or are you willing to play the long game by making incremental improvements? Only you can answer these questions, but being honest with yourself, formulating a plan, and marking down your progress are positive steps to take.

What does all of this have to do with exercise? In order to succeed in terms of gaining strength, reducing body fat, building bone mineral density, improving metabolic and cardiovascular conditioning, and reducing systemic inflammation you need to have a plan of action. Otherwise, you will likely end up like so many people wandering around aimlessly in commercial gyms without the first clue of what you're doing. Contacting Total Results is the first step. We can help you formulate a plan of action and educate you on the physiology of how to stimulate positive physical change. Remember that the main exercise objective is thorough inroad, and this is the stimulus that spurs positive physical improvements. We can help you to set ambitious but achievable goals, and we'll do check-ins periodically to see how you're doing. Are you facing obstacles in your process because you aren't a morning person? We can find a time of day that works better for your schedule and helps you stay on track. 20 minutes, once or twice per week, combined with simple lifestyle changes is all that you need.

Every repetition matters, but proper form trumps everything else. Concentrate on this exercise, this repetition, this turnaround; don't worry about what comes next. Stay in the now! Total Results is the accountability partner that you need to help you achieve things that you didn't think were possible. Focus on the process and the end result will take care of itself. How badly do you want it?

Casey Means, MD, earned both her undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University. She completed her residency as a head and neck surgeon at Oregon Health and Science University before leaving traditional medicine to focus on the root causes of why Americans increasingly suffer from chronic diseases. "Good Energy" was written with Dr. Means's brother Calley Means, and it was published in 2024.

During her surgical residency, Dr. Means treated patients with numerous chronic conditions, such as migraines, sinusitis, tonsillitis, and various other ailments. Typically she would prescribe various medications to treat the problem, and if those did not work she would perform surgery. Eventually she realized that she was treating the symptoms rather than fixing the underlying root cause. This prompted her to leave her position as a chief resident at OHSU and open her own practice. Establishment medicine tends to treat every condition separately, without realizing that all the processes in the body are interrelated. As the author states, "...inflammation-which leads to disease, pain, and suffering-takes root because core dysfunctions occur inside our cells, impacting how they function, signal, and replicate themselves." She also correctly points out that, "...every institution that impacts health-from medical schools to insurance companies to hospitals to pharma companies-makes money on 'managing' disease, not curing patients."

Dr. Means makes the distinction between "bad energy" and "good energy." "Bad energy" is when normal metabolic function has tipped into dysfunction, and is largely the result of three things: mitochondrial dysfunction (in which the powerhouse of the cell is overburdened and cannot produce enough ATP), chronic inflammation (mitochondrial dysfunction is perceived as a threat and the body formulates a fighting response), and oxidative stress (free radicals cause damage to the cells and lead to dysfunction). Mitochondrial dysfunction can be caused by many things, namely chronic overnutrition, a sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, medications and drugs, and nutrient deficiencies. When mitochondria do not function properly, they cannot convert food energy into cellular energy, which can lead to chronic disease. On the other hand, "good energy" can be measured by looking at five markers that are typically tested during an annual check-up. The author says that you should strive for a triglyceride level of less than 80 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol of 50-90 mg/DL, a fasting glucose level of 70-85 mg/dL, blood pressure of 120/80, a waist circumference (depending on your ethnicity) of less than 37 inches for men and 31.5 inches for women, and a triglyceride-to-HDL ratio of 1. This would indicate that your cells are functioning optimally and you have achieved true metabolic health.

The book is divided into three sections. Part 1 is "The Truth About Energy", Part 2 is "Creating Good Energy", and Part 3 is "The Good Energy Plan." I particularly liked chapter five, which covers some principles of proper nutrition. The author does a nice job of explaining the inherent dangers of the contemporary Western diet that is filled with processed foods, and she discusses omega-3 and omega-6 fats and their respective roles in biological function. Dr. Means says that we should look at eating as a means of matching our cells' needs with our oral inputs, and that food is how we communicate with our cells. The most important advice that the author gives is to focus on eating unprocessed food and not worry about diet philosophy. Many different diets will work, provided you eat plenty of protein, vegetables and fruits, and essential fats, while avoiding sugars and processed foods. If you are satisfying your vitamin, mineral, and trace element requirements, it doesn't really matter what template you follow.

I enjoyed reading this book. Dr. Means includes helpful grids for each micronutrient and food sources where they can be found. There is also an exhaustive list of foods to avoid. The author provides other helpful lifestyle strategies, such as how to incorporate movement into your daily routine, managing stress, optimizing sleep by minimizing exposure to artificial light, and explaining the benefits of exposure to hot and cold temperatures. In the back of the book there are recipes that you can follow for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks that are healthy alternatives to fast food and the prepackaged stuff so commonly found in grocery stores. My only point of contention with the good doctor is over her strength training recommendations. I believe that a frequency of three times per week is too much, and that the Total Results methodology is superior. However, I do agree with the author that strength training should be considered an essential component of everyone's life.

How can this book help you? It will educate you about the real reasons why the number of people suffering from chronic (and preventable) diseases has skyrocketed over the last forty years, and it should crystallize for you how the medical establishment, pharmaceutical companies, and big agriculture profit by keeping you sick. If someone as accomplished and respected as Dr. Means walked away from a lucrative specialty practice, that should tell you something. I encourage all of you to read this book and utilize the strategies put forth to optimize your health and independence. You can and should feel amazing, no matter your age.

There are many different ways to measure and track exercise performance. We create a spreadsheet (either in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) for each client and record the order and selection of exercises, their machine settings, weight (resistance), time under load, and make note of any recurring form discrepancies that are committed for each workout. Our exercise philosophy is the same for every client, but every individual is different; this is why we tailor each exercise routine to meet the needs of each person that is under our tutelage. Naturally, every client wants to perform at his or her best in every workout that they undertake, but different factors can make that an impossibility. There are physiological and mental considerations that have a positive or negative effect on one's exercise performance. How you approach this on an ongoing basis will have a great impact on your level of sustained success.

Some of these factors have been discussed in previous articles, but I thought this was important enough to merit a separate article on the topic. We all have individual differences, which I believe should be celebrated. Metabolically, everyone uses energy at different rates, which means that from one person to the next recovery and exercise frequency can vary. This is why some Total Results clients exercise once per week, while others come twice per week. Some train more intensely than others, which also necessitates a reduced volume and frequency of exercise. Some clients, if they have genetic advantages, can get away with things that others cannot. Since I have a genetic propensity for leanness, I could probably still make decent progress while making poor dietary choices, but I choose not to do that. It would likely catch up to me sooner or later in any event. Just because you can get away with doing certain things that are detrimental to your progress doesn't mean that you should.

Here are five factors that can significantly impact your performance.

Mental state. Attitude is everything! I often refer to the old Henry Ford quote: "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." A positive attitude is absolutely necessary when you are dealing with the adverse circumstances and discomfort that a Total Results workout entails. If you are distracted (and let's face it, that is a battle that most of us have to fight every day), you will struggle. Shut everything else out of your life for 20 minutes and focus on completing something that is truly tangible and meaningful. Show no fear! Accept the fact that what you are about to do will be difficult and uncomfortable, but the realize that the reward comes on the other side in the form of accomplishment, empowerment, and independence from the sick care system.

Proper sleep. Matthew Walker's book "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams" is one of the most useful books that I have read in the last decade, and I have recommended it to scores of clients. Walker recommends getting between seven to nine hours of sleep per night, and says that anyone sleeping for less than seven hours per night on a consistent basis is functioning at a much more diminished capacity than they realize. Eventually, it catches up to you and can lead to a whole host of health problems. Sleep is important for so many reasons, but especially for recharging your mental batteries and helping to facilitate tissue repair after a workout. Sleep soundly and sufficiently for a few nights in a row prior to a workout, and you will notice a tremendous difference in your performance.

Nutrition. You wouldn't put low-octane gas into a sports car, so why eat junk food before a workout? Do not pay attention to government guidelines, their food pyramid, or most of the commercials that you see on TV. Just like a car needs fuel before a road trip, your body needs to be properly fueled in order to do the things you want it to do. Consume single-ingredient whole foods, select high quality sources of protein (1 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight), and find good sources of saturated fat. Fruits and vegetables should be your primary source of carbohydrates. Avoid processed junk and minimize sugars. Simply put, you should consume the foods that will provide the vitamins, minerals, and other raw materials that you need for optimal energy and recovery.

Protein intake. Most people do not eat enough of it! I touched on this in the previous section, but you should strive to take in 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Simply divide your body weight by 2.2 and you will have your ideal number. In order to build muscle (which should be a goal for everyone), you need protein to repair the tissue that has been broken down in the course of a workout. Good sources of protein include beef, chicken, pork, fish, and eggs, and some protein should be consumed with every meal. If you are a vegan this will be a challenge, but there are alternative sources of protein that you can consume such as flaxseed, lentils, and tofu. I should point out that plant-based sources are incomplete proteins, meaning that they do not contain all of the essential amino acids, so variety will be key.

Activity level. Movement is important for our health, but it is very easy to overdo it. I believe that sitting for long stretches of time is unhealthy for your mind and body, but it also bears noting that our recovery systems can be somewhat fragile. Less is often more, and if you are running or biking three or more times per week your Total Results workouts can suffer. Low-level movement, such as walking, traditional yoga, or golf probably won't negatively impact you too much, but do exercise good judgement when deciding other activities to pursue.

The good news is that all of this is within your control. You have the power to do what it takes to ensure lasting success and robust health. Please let us know how we can help you on your journey!